I have compared the 12 skin colors, 10 faces, 11 hair styles, 7 hair colors and 7 horn styles that are available in character creation for non-death knight female draenei characters. I will also comment on one of the hair styles that are only available from the barber shop (the high pony tail). For screenshots from old and new character creation, see: http://laeleiweyn.blogspot.com/2014/09/female-draenei-character-creation.html

First of all I want to say that I appreciate the artistic work that has been done when creating the new models. I would have absolutely loved to have them implemented as additional looks that I could choose from for my new alts. But as they are here to replace the looks that I and many others love, that is how I will judge them. There is a standard already set by the old models that the new ones need to at least reach, and preferably exceed, before I will hook "Show New Character Models" in the graphics settings.

I know the art team has worked hard to preserve the feel and soul of our characters. But perception is tricky and highly subjective. Where I perceive someone as "shy", someone else would perceive them as "grumpy", and so on. I think we can all agree that there has indeed been change to the models, but how we view those different changes are also highly subjective! For instance I love the new defined muscles on my monk, they make so much sense to me (with all the running and fighting that she does, I mean). But I wouldn't be surprised at all if there is someone else out there that doesn't like them. Actually, I would be surprised if there proves to be noone that doesn't like them.

I'm also aware that I'm a bit late to the party, as I haven't been in the beta. I downloaded PTR yesterday, and that was my first experience with the new looks hands-on. There are other threads on the subject (http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/11267996933), but I don't have access to write on the beta forum.

My characters have white beautiful glowy eyes, and as far as I know they've had these eyes since I started playing 7 years ago. However, in the "Warlords of Draenor Announcement Trailer" I noticed that the two featured draenei had blue eyes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYueIdI_2L0), much like the draenei death knights have now. Then Artcraft: Daughter of Argus (http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/blog/13698957) was released and the eyes were still blue, although more toned down compared to the trailer. On PTR/beta they are SUPER-BLUE, almost green. I can only assume they're still not done, so consider this my plea to keep them white like they have been for all these years! Much like the night elf eyes are on PTR/beta.

FANGS

Draenei have fangs. Where are they? :)

MARKINGS ON THE FOREHEAD

With higher definition and more polygons, I wonder why the markings on the forehead are almost less prominent and detailed on the new models than what they are on the old ones?

GIFT OF THE NAARU

On live the shiny sigil-effect across the forehead lasts for the entire duration of Gift of the Naaru, but on PTR it appears when cast, and then disappears straight away. I'm aware that the duration of Gift of the Naaru has been lowered to 5 seconds, but the effect disappears much sooner than that even (1-2 seconds).

MUSCLES

My opinion: I love them!

THE RUN

The run has changed. I can't really put my finger on it, but it seems her steps has no weight to them any longer. And there's also something going on with the arms.

/dance: There's two facial expressions during one particular part of the dance routine that look very odd to me. We have here a draenei, a noble stoic being from Argus who is somewhere around 200-10.000 years old. I don't really think her face bends that way. I know there's /chicken and /train too for sillyness, but still.

/flex: First part seems fine, I'm on the fence about the teethy grin in the second part.

/rude: Not sure about this one.

/wave: That smile... Too wide and too fake.

SKIN COLOR

The only skin color I use on my draenei characters is skin color 5, so this is the one I feel strongest about.

Skin Color 3, 4, 8, 10 and 12 seem to be very similar on live and PTR.

Skin Color 1: The new one seems more blue.Skin Color 2: The new one seems more blue here too. The old one seems more green.Skin Color 5: The new one is much paler, and the purple has more red in it than the old one.Skin Color 6: The new one is paler/whiter.Skin Color 7: The new one is paler.Skin Color 9: The new one seems paler.Skin Color 11: The new one is more blue, the old one is more green.

FACE

As I have so many draenei characters, I have nicknames for most of the faces relating to how they look to me. Face 3, 7 and 8 have been my favorites for a good while now. My first character back in 2007 was a Face 7, while my current cute main is a Face 8.

What they have tried to do with the faces must have been really difficult. Where the only real difference before was lip shape, eyebrow shape and shading, they have now tried to add features where there were none, like different noses and face shapes. At the same time they've tried to keep the eyebrow shape from the originals, so that we can recognize them.

I feel like all the familiar faces are gone, and the draenei beauty has faded a bit. Face 7 and Face 8 are so different that I don't even... My favorite among the new ones is Face 9, which wasn't even in my top 5 before. And I don't really feel like applying that same face to my 20+ draenei characters.

HAIR STYLE

I would love some new hair styles to choose from! Perhaps choose from some of the goblin ones? :-) And for those hair styles that changed; I would love to keep both the old and the new look.

The new hair looks a bit more like actual hair now I think, but I have yet to check if it flows and moves like promised.

Hair Style 1: "Straight". Separated in the middle, slick. Not that slick anymore, and has a lock that misbehaves.Hair Style 2: "Flipped": Separated on the side. Now covers more of the eye it falls down over, and has a single lock that misbehaves.Hair Style 3: "Cute". Two ponytails and bangs. Seems very true to the original. Position of ponytails may be a tad lower.Hair Style 4: "Feathered". Pretty true to original, but seems to not flow in same direction any longer.Hair Style 5: "Buns". Looks unchanged to me.Hair Style 6: "Jeweled Band". Headband with curls. Looks unchanged to me.Hair Style 7: "Bangs". Shoulderlong hair with bangs. Looks both very familiar but changed at the same time, but can't put my finger on what is different.Hair Style 8: "Elegant". Tidy do that has changed a bit. Now has bangs falling down over forehead.Hair Style 9: "Bounce". Casual bob with bangs. Looks unchanged to me.Hair Style 10: "Nape". Short with bangs. The bangs used to be fuller on the sides.Hair Style 11: "Sassy". Spiky. Seems very similar, only thing is direction of hair could be corrected a bit."High" tail from barber shop: The bangs start way lower on the new one than the old, and the ponytail isn't as perky as it is now. I do like this new look, but I would like to keep the old one too.

HAIR COLOR

I have no comments on the hair colors, they all seem fine to me. Listing them anyway if others want to comment.

I recognize and appreciate the amount of work and effort that has been done by the art team! I'm not trying to insult their work.

I want to keep the white eyes we have now.I think the run still needs work.I don't think the new faces match the old ones good enough.I want the dark purple skin color to stay as it is; darker and with less red in it than what it is on the PTR.I don't want facial expressions that are too silly.

I dislike the new face for my draenei, one of the ugliest faces on live turned out to be one of the prettiest on beta, same with the prettiest turned out to be the ugliest.It starts to resemble the aprils fool joke more than the actual preview of the draenei model.

The nose is far too big and wide compared to the old models and the mouth/lips stick out too much, the eyes are way too blue and they look more alien-ish than they were before.I agree with the ponytail, I don't like that it has been lowered.

I agree with you on many points! I do really like the texture updates to the body and the hair and I think overall they are doing a great job with the animations / emotes too, but there are quite some things bothering me as well about the new model.

This character has been my main for years and so far I am quite alright with how her own face and hair will look in WoD, at least she smiles like she does now and her lips have the same darker color, so I was relieved about that.

That being said:

-There are a few faces in there that look nothing like their old counterparts...which is sad as I feel they lost a bit of that uniqueness they have now. Some proportions are pretty odd with sudden plump noses and completely different mouths / eyebrows. I don't mind that diversity ( and it could be really fun ) but right now on some faces it just feels really out of place as the point was to make them look like the old ones instead. Faces with tiny noses got a big nose and the other way around, that seems a bit strange to me.

-The eyes seem way too large, I liked how on the old faces they were smaller and more in balance with the rest of the face. They also don't really seem to point upwards as much anymore, something I liked as it adds to the 'alien' feel of the Draenei. Now they seem to have straightened the eye position a bit in the face. Also, the blue is so bright and looks flat...I would he happier too if they toned it down a bit and gave it a bit more 'glow' instead.

-Oh dear, that /dance emote...you are so right and I know exactly what faces you are talking about. It seems bugged / unfinished to me and I hope they won't let the model go live like this as it just looks ridiculous : / Not that I'm dancing all the time, but I like things to be perfect and this is not. The /wave smile is huge and looks scary, and I find her /flex grin strange too...the mouths just get enormous ( this seems to be a problem on many models ) and I hope they will make them smaller and again, in proportion with the face.

-And yes, fangs! I hope they get added still...right now its just a big row of flat teeth.

I'm sad that my hairstyle seems to have gone completely. I want hair over one eye and the only option I could find was with long hair which I don't want. I can cope with everything else, but with different hair I won't be me.

I'm sad that my hairstyle seems to have gone completely. I want hair over one eye and the only option I could find was with long hair which I don't want. I can cope with everything else, but with different hair I won't be me.

I think your hair is the still there and it looks very good. But it's one of the "barber shop only" ones that I didn't include in the comparison. I should have, but it took so much time and I reached the word limit on the post.

This is exactly one of the reasons for why blizzard has been so hesitant about remaking the models...Changing something we have known for so many years is a bold task, and people will not be satisfied due to unrealistically high expectations.

I do agree with you partially, Fang! I know they've been hesitant to redo them, probably because of people like me in the "don't see the need for an update, please don't mess with my characters"-camp. Then the "this looks so old and dated"-camp became louder or more numerous, at the same time as the difference between new shiny models (pandaren) and old worn out models (human) became more and more apparent. A good image would perhaps be to compare old tree models to new tree models. Although the characters feel a lot more personal than the trees.

I wouldn't call it unrealistic expectations if we want the new characters to be at least equally good, and to keep their flair. Anyway, at this point all we can do is to provide constructive feedback, which I hope I was able to do.

In the end you barely see facial features on your character.. unless you zoom in or going to the dressing room to check new looks of gear.(and forum)You can always show your helmet if you don't like i'm sure blizzard will create a paperbag helmet :p

I dislike most of the new models but i'm not paying for a race change. This is a first negeative on my list towards WoD and depending on how many negatives WoD has will make my decision about playing or stopping.Blizzard has been alienating me since Cata and MoP was the biggest treshold to overcome with around 1 year not beeing subbed because i just couldn't immerse myself.

I Just hope my brain can handle the model change .. But since i'm already having issues with the New Doctor Who !! it's looks grim